Journal
MOLECULES
Volume 27, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/molecules27010171
Keywords
biomaterials; oxidative stress; antioxidant; calcium oxalate
Funding
- CAPES [CIMAR 2014]
- Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte
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Animal chitosan (Chit-A) is a popular material in daily activities, but has low antioxidant activity. Fungal oligochitosan (OChit-F), extracted from the fungus Cunninghamella elegans, was found to have higher antioxidant activity than Chit-A and did not induce the formation of calcium oxalate crystals.
Animal chitosan (Chit-A) is gaining more acceptance in daily activities. It is used in a range of products from food supplements for weight loss to even raw materials for producing nanoparticles and hydrogel drug carriers; however, it has low antioxidant activity. Fungal oligochitosan (OChit-F) was identified as a potential substitute for Chit-A. Cunninghamella elegans is a fungus found in the Brazilian savanna (Caatinga) that produces OligoChit-F, which is a relatively poorly studied compound. In this study, 4 kDa OChit-F with a 76% deacetylation degree was extracted from C. elegans. OChit-F showed antioxidant activity similar to that of Chit-A in only one in vitro test (copper chelation) but exhibited higher activity than that of Chit-A in three other tests (reducing power, hydroxyl radical scavenging, and iron chelation). These results indicate that OChit-F is a better antioxidant than Chit-A. In addition, Chit-A significantly increased the formation of calcium oxalate crystals in vitro, particularly those of the monohydrate (COM) type; however, OChit-F had no effect on this process in vitro. In summary, OChit-F had higher antioxidant activity than Chit-A and did not induce the formation of CaOx crystals. Thus, OChit-F can be used as a Chit-A substitute in applications affected by oxidative stress.
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